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Polk Deputies Kill Man In Overnight Shooting

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By NEIL JOHNSON

njohnson@tampatrib.com

Published: March 23, 2009

LAKELAND - Two Polk County Sheriff's deputies shot and killed a man who they said pointed a 9-mm pistol at them outside an apartment near Lakeland early Sunday morning.

The deputies fired eight to 12 rounds at Carlos Torres-Ramos, 38, when he aimed a semi-automatic pistol at them outside at 1341 Penny Royal Court in Lakeland, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said Sunday.

After the gunfire, Torres-Ramos went back in the apartment from which deputies had earlier removed a woman and three children, ranging in age from 9 to 13 years old. A SWAT team entered the apartment and found Ramos dead, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said.

Ramos did not fire at the deputies, but aiming a gun at deputies is all that is necessary, the sheriff said.

"If you point a firearm at our deputies, you can expect to be shot," Judd said at a news conference.

The incident started about a mile away with an unrelated gunfight between Ramos and Jose Negron, 16, about 1:40 a.m. at Negron's home at 128 Idaho Ave. in Lakeland. Negron was hit in the leg, the sheriff's office said.

Investigators learned Ramos had left in a white Mitsubishi and deputies found the car at an apartment on Penny Royal Court. Ramos was inside taking a shower when deputies got the woman and three children out of the apartment.

Investigators found shell casings at the Idaho Avenue scene that matched the gun Ramos pointed at deputies, Judd said.

Meanwhile, relatives took Negron to a home at 118 Edgewater Drive in the Carefree Cove subdivision because he was wanted on charges of felony battery, resisting arrest without violence and trespassing, the sheriff's office said.

Negron was arrested and taken to Winter Haven Hospital, the sheriff's office said.

Judd said investigations by his department, the Medical Examiner's Office and the State Attorney's Office into the fatal shooting will continue.

Ramos has faced weapons, drug and domestic violence charges in Puerto Rico, Judd said.

Reporter Neil Johnson can be reached at (813) 259-7731.

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